Suddenly, everyone became amazingly litigious. I remember I'd get up in the morning. Sue someone. Check in the papers that I hadn't been fired. Go to the office. Sue someone. Pick up the morning's writs. Sue the bank. Go out for lunch. Sue the restaurant. Get back in, collect the writs that had been received that afternoon. Read the papers. Phone the papers. Sue the papers. Then go home. Sue the wife.

dramboxf:Why can't someone go to the software vendor with a warrant or an injunction or a writ or whatever and say "Source code, NOW!" and check to see if this is legit?

Here's the winners of a programming contest held last month. I am regularly awed by their creations. Also, I'm guessing a large national political party can afford to do a better job hiding a backdoor than a bunch of kids having a little laugh in their spare time.

If ten lines of code can leave a team of the best programmers in the world scratching their head over what it's basic purpose is, I don't imagine a team of election judges will do much better.

MisterTweak:Also, I'm guessing a large national political party can afford to do a better job hiding a backdoor than a bunch of kids having a little laugh in their spare time.

On the other hand, Republicans. Technology. These things do not get along well. A cut-rate programmer who knows his employer doesn't know how he works his magic doesn't have much motivation to be subtle about things.

incendi:MisterTweak: Also, I'm guessing a large national political party can afford to do a better job hiding a backdoor than a bunch of kids having a little laugh in their spare time.

On the other hand, Republicans. Technology. These things do not get along well. A cut-rate programmer who knows his employer doesn't know how he works his magic doesn't have much motivation to be subtle about things.

Elections, especially close ones, are won by people who know the minute trivia of the rules - and it's much more efficient to get 100 votes tossed out rather than get 100 more votes - so very much so if you can pre-select which ones you want thrown out.

I am sure democrats have done it, but the GOP really is the gold standard in this category. When I understood how vote caging works, I felt as if I had shaken the hand of satan himself.

MisterTweak:lections, especially close ones, are won by people who know the minute trivia of the rules - and it's much more efficient to get 100 votes tossed out rather than get 100 more votes - so very much so if you can pre-select which ones you want thrown out.

I am sure democrats have done it, but the GOP really is the gold standard in this category. When I understood how vote caging works, I felt as if I had shaken the hand of satan himself.

Yeah, that shiat is straight evil... but somehow that's not even enough for them now. It's like they want to steal the election without even having the decency to actually do the WORK of stealing an election.

Remember 2004, when Kerry and the Democrats were all: "we are ready to investigate any and all irregularities in the electronic vote record" on Monday, and all: "whoops, we lost 49-51, no problem!" on Wednesday?

DamnYankees:I just can't believe they could get away with blatantly cheating. I just can't. Please tell me I'm not insane.

I never thought I'd see bankers get away with stealing billions right there on live national TV either but that actually happened. not too difficult to believe in a blatant attempt to illegally influence an election after that sad affair.

dr_blasto:Well, and not get caught. Seems like if he had plans to steal elections, getting caught shouldn't be a part of them.

I don't even know if that's true. As long you get caught after the election and not before, you're probably ok. You think there's any chance if Romney wins the state, and then we find out later there was fraud, that will be overturned and the state will be given to Obama? No chance in hell that happens, conservatives would go INSANE.

DamnYankees:I just can't believe they could get away with blatantly cheating. I just can't. Please tell me I'm not insane.

Never ascribe to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence. There exists the chance that this is a clerical SNAFU with no nefarious intention behind it. Unless I'm missing something, nobody is making any accusation here other than that software was installed in a way that was not kosher.

nekom:DamnYankees: I just can't believe they could get away with blatantly cheating. I just can't. Please tell me I'm not insane.

Never ascribe to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence. There exists the chance that this is a clerical SNAFU with no nefarious intention behind it. Unless I'm missing something, nobody is making any accusation here other than that software was installed in a way that was not kosher.

nekom:DamnYankees: I just can't believe they could get away with blatantly cheating. I just can't. Please tell me I'm not insane.

Never ascribe to malice that which can be easily explained by incompetence. There exists the chance that this is a clerical SNAFU with no nefarious intention behind it. Unless I'm missing something, nobody is making any accusation here other than that software was installed in a way that was not kosher.

Frankly I'd just go with stupidity as the explanation no matter WHAT the underlying reasoning is. Either he's trying to steal an election in the most hamfistedly blatant way possible, or he made a colossally bad decision as to the timing of a software update made to a piece of critical election infrastructure.

Whichever it is, I don't predict things will go well for him after this.

AlwaysRightBoy:NutWrench: Screw it. Those machines have been tampered with. They should go straight to paper ballots for all the affected districts and figure out what's been done to the machines later.

Jersey went to paper a few days ago in all the affected disaster districts. The question I would have is can Ohio get the paper ballots to the polling stations in time?

I will voting on paper tomorrow.

The software is on the counting machines... not the voting machines.

This means that unless the counting is done by hand... all is suspect.

Girl From The North Country:this is "unspeakably stupid, excessively complex and insanely risky. In medical terms it is the equivalent of doing open heart surgery as part of a method of removing somebody's hemorrhoids. Whoever came up with this idea is either the dumbest Information Technology professional in the US or has criminal intent against the Ohio election process."

from that link:

Why at this late date would there be a need to be an experimental patch loaded on these machines?Certainly there has been plenty of time before this election to add any needed updates.

Why would the contract allow for "experimental" uncertfied software to be allowed on such a security sensitive network?

Why wouldn't the Secretary of States office be forthright about the patch when originally presented these questions?

There are all VERY good questions, but the answer to all of them could be stupidity. Or, there is a crime and there is a criminal or criminals that need to be investigated at once. Either way, seems like reverting to the paper ballots would be the sensible thing to do.

Shadow Blasko:nekom: Either way, seems like reverting to the paper ballots would be the sensible thing to do.

These are the machines that count the paper ballots.

There needs to be a hand count. Period.

Ah, well then yeah that's even more inconvenient. But I suppose if they aren't kosher, there's really no other way. Unless they think they could get the certified software back on them in time. I have no clue how long something like that would generally take.

FTA: The memo claims that "its function is to aid in the reporting of results" by converting them "into a format that can be read by the Secretary of State's election night reporting system." OK, I read the contract. Basically, the Secretary of State has told the company to do whatever the SoS wants and neither the company nor the SoS will disclose the modification of the voting machines.

Company address? 11208 John Galt Boulevard. A company that picks this as their business address is attempting to make a statement.

nekom:Girl From The North Country: this is "unspeakably stupid, excessively complex and insanely risky. In medical terms it is the equivalent of doing open heart surgery as part of a method of removing somebody's hemorrhoids. Whoever came up with this idea is either the dumbest Information Technology professional in the US or has criminal intent against the Ohio election process."

from that link:

Why at this late date would there be a need to be an experimental patch loaded on these machines?Certainly there has been plenty of time before this election to add any needed updates.

Why would the contract allow for "experimental" uncertfied software to be allowed on such a security sensitive network?

Why wouldn't the Secretary of States office be forthright about the patch when originally presented these questions?

There are all VERY good questions, but the answer to all of them could be stupidity. Or, there is a crime and there is a criminal or criminals that need to be investigated at once. Either way, seems like reverting to the paper ballots would be the sensible thing to do.

I think it's more than stupidity because they actively lied and tried to sweep this under the rug. But we can both agree that paper ballots should now be used.

violentsalvation:I see the excuse / reason / blame piece is all written up. Can either party use this, depending on the outcome?

How is making sure the vote is legitimate not a benefit to everyone? If it has to benefit one party over another, considering that this is a Republican SOS who is doing the changes and Obama is leading there, it's to Obama' s benefit.

Ohio voter here. In our county, we use touch-screen voting machines but there is a paper receipt generated when you cast your vote. The machine keeps the paper, each "page" showing through a little window. You have to approve or reject each page. Of course, we have to trust that the page is kept intact as printed, and TFA does point out that many ballots in 2004 were illegally destroyed before a review was possible.

I think it should go to all-paper, but I'd wager that polling places in Democratic districts would mysteriously run short on ballots and be unable to serve everyone before being ordered to close in the evening. It's not exactly unprecedented.

yukichigai:Whichever it is, I don't predict things will go well for him after this.

Who really cares if he gets buttfarked in state prison if he throws the election for Romney?

This is mostly my fear. Florida will go to Romney - because of the shortening of early voting and access problems in the populous areas like Miami Dade - and Ohio will go to Romney through voter fraud.

Shadow Blasko:AlwaysRightBoy: NutWrench: Screw it. Those machines have been tampered with. They should go straight to paper ballots for all the affected districts and figure out what's been done to the machines later.

Jersey went to paper a few days ago in all the affected disaster districts. The question I would have is can Ohio get the paper ballots to the polling stations in time?

I will voting on paper tomorrow.

The software is on the counting machines... not the voting machines.

This means that unless the counting is done by hand... all is suspect.

I stand corrected. Lets just hope they can make an attempt by tomorrow to make it fair.

You guys really need to fix this shiat. This crap has been going on for decades now in some form or another. Paper ballots are the only way to ensure a fair election. They're easy, they can be reconciled and confirmed and you can have someone oversee the whole process very easily.

I can't believe a country like the US allows any form of free market system be involved in one of the most instrumental components of government.